As guest speaker at the Mark Twain Library in Redding at 7:30 tonight, Cruson will be discussing those objects, the activities of the Underground Railroad, the abolitionist movement in Fairfield County and other topics in his newest book, "The Slaves of Central Fairfield County: The Journey from Slave to Freeman in Nineteenth-Century Connecticut."

Cruson's interest in slavery in Fairfield County was sparked by a clip in a television news program in which a young student at Yale indicated how shocked she was when she discovered that university founder Elihu Yale had been a slave owner.

" 'How,' she asked, 'could an influential clergyman in the Northern state of Connecticut have owned slaves?'"

Then a teacher of history, anthropology and archeology at Joel Barlow High School in Redding, he knew there had been slavery in the Colonies and in the early republic, but through the student's question "quickly became aware that ignorance of Northern slavery was widespread." Being an educator, he believed it was his job to dispel that ignorance.

Beginning with local sources, he wrote "Newtown's Slaves: A Case Study in Early Connecticut Rural Black History." Published in 1994, that soft cover book was a study of the slave population in the state from the time public records about it existed to 1840, eight years before slavery formally ended in Connecticut, when there were 17 slaves in the entire state.

Since that work was published, Cruson, utilizing local slave archaeology, private sources, state and local records, has written about and dug ever more deeply into the subject.

Among other things, during an archeological study at the Davis home on Sherman Street in Sandy Hook, a house built by freed slave Cato Freedom (also known as Cato Freeman), Cruson found an oddly shaped "X" carved into a stone in the chimney stack.

Similar markings had been found in other buildings known to have been owned or occupied by manumitted slaves, Cruson, a Newtown resident, wrote.

The oval-shaped spirit mark, called a "cosmogram" by historian Robert Ferris Thompson, "is of West African origin," Cruson said, "and invokes ancestors to protect the living."

The discovery of a shoe hidden under the kitchen floor in the Sherman Street home also pointed to protection and to Freedom's knowledge of old English customs.

Such footwear, called "concealment shoes," was meant to prevent evil from entering a home; some such shoes have been traced to 13th century England.

Together, the shoe and the marking are a window into the spiritual life and practices of at least one freed slave, Cruson wrote, and their marriage of different yet similar traditions.

In another section of his book, "Abolition and the Underground Railroad: Blacks and Local Folklore," Cruson briefly recounts the story of the abolitionist movement in Fairfield County and the violence associated with it, particularly in the destruction of the Georgetown Baptist Church in 1838.

Fairfield County residents weren't pro slavery, but many also were Connecticut Yankees who didn't like abolitionists telling them how to think.

In central Fairfield County, though, feelings came to a climax in late November 1838 when the church was to be the site of an anti-slavery convention. At 2 a.m. on Nov. 27, 1838, a keg of gunpowder secreted under its altar exploded, virtually destroying the building.

The church was rebuilt, but the congregation was never the same. In 1847, its members voted it out of existence.

Discussion of the Underground Railroad is also in the chapter and though stations (safe houses for slaves fleeing the South) were in Wilton, Georgetown and Weston (the newest discovery), there were none, he believes, in Newtown, a belief which raises questions about prevalent local folklore and myths about the supposed Purdy Station.

Cruson, the author of seven books on local and regional history, a trustee of the Newtown and Easton historical societies, said he wanted to discuss his discoveries with Reddingites and area residents because "these are wonderful, fascinating discoveries that we didn't know before. I want to share with the public, especially with people in Newtown, Redding, Easton and Weston."

Dan Cruson will speak about his newest book, "The Slaves of Central Fairfield County: the Journey from Slave to Freeman in Nineteenth-Century Connecticut," tonight at 7:30 in the Mark Twain Library, Route 53 and Diamond Hill Road in Redding.

To reserve a seat, call the library at (203) at 938-2545, as space is limited. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.

Published by The History Press, "The Slaves of Central Fairfield County," can be purchased, among other places, online at Amazon.com or tonight at the Mark Twain Library.